Abstract
We report measurements of the Casimir force between a gold sphere and a silicon surface with an array of nanoscale, rectangular corrugations using a micromechanical torsional oscillator. At distances between 150 and 500 nm, the measured force shows significant deviations from the pairwise additive formulism, demonstrating the strong dependence of the Casimir force on the shape of the interacting bodies. The observed deviation, however, is smaller than the calculated values for perfectly conducting surfaces, possibly due to the interplay between finite conductivity and geometry effects.
- Received 20 March 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.030401
©2008 American Physical Society
Erratum
Erratum: Measurement of the Casimir Force between a Gold Sphere and a Silicon Surface with Nanoscale Trench Arrays [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 030401 (2008)]
H. B. Chan, Y. Bao, J. Zou, R. A. Cirelli, F. Klemens, W. M. Mansfield, and C. S. Pai
Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 019901 (2011)
Viewpoint
How Casimir forces are shaping up
Published 14 July 2008
Modification of electromagnetic zero-point fluctuations by closely spaced conductors causes an interaction between them called the Casimir force. New experiments with nanostructured silicon substrates show that the geometry of the conducting surfaces has a large effect on this force.
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